[2023 National Audit] Choo Kyung-ho: "Export-driven Recovery... Economic Recovery Progressing as Government Forecasted"

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho maintained the government's 'low in the first half, high in the second half' forecast on the 26th, stating, "There may be some fluctuations, but it can be achieved around the government's annual average growth rate forecast of about 1.4%."

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Finance Choo Kyung-ho is responding to a lawmaker's question at the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee audit on the 26th. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

On the same day, Deputy Prime Minister Choo responded to a question from Rep. Cho Hae-jin of the People Power Party during the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee audit. Rep. Cho said, "While the government and the Bank of Korea ultimately forecast this year's growth rate at 1.4%, investment banks and credit rating agencies are projecting it could fall to as low as 1%," and asked, "For this year's growth rate to be 1%, the growth rate for the remaining four quarters must be below 0.45%. Do you think this is possible?" On that day, the Bank of Korea reported the real GDP growth rate for the third quarter of this year at 0.6%.

Deputy Prime Minister Choo said, "For a 1% growth rate to occur, the growth rate next quarter must be below 0.5%, which is an unlikely forecast given the current economic trend." He added, "Although it is difficult to be definitive due to uncertain variables such as the Israel-Palestine conflict, conservatively, the government forecasts 1.3%, and optimistically, 1.5% growth is possible."

He also said, "Since October, exports have turned positive, and recently, semiconductors have shown continuous signs of recovery, so we expect an export-led recovery trend in the second half of the year."

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